Openwork relaunches women in financial services conference

The conference, which is the third event under the theme of Inspiring Women in Financial Services, will be held at The Grand Hotel in Birmingham on Friday September 17.

Openwork relaunches women in financial services conference

The Openwork Partnership has relaunched its annual women in financial services conference.

The conference, which is the third event under the theme of Inspiring Women in Financial Services, will be held at The Grand Hotel in Birmingham on Friday September 17.

Speakers at the event include entrepreneur, money coach and qualified financial planner Catherine Morgan, Paralympian, 7/7 survivor and author Martine Wright MBE, and comedian Cally Beaton.

Attendees from across The Openwork Partnership will hear from a range of panel Q&As and round tables as well as presentations on sales ideas and skills and have the chance to network with colleagues.

Claire Limon, network directorat The Openwork Partnership said: “It will be great to get back to face-to-face meetings and a real pleasure that we can start the Women in Financial Services conferences again after such success with the first two.

“As the conference title says the aim is to inspire women and provide role models as we build on the company’s commitment to support women in financial services and close the female financial adviser gap.”

Sonia Wheeler, managing director of Essential Wealth Management, added: “I am thrilled that the event is taking place this year, given the experiences and positivity from the previous events. The agenda and speakers have been carefully considered to inspire and engage.

"The Partnership is passionate about encouraging women to pursue careers in our profession and I am delighted to be part of it.“

Sarah Hogan, chartered financial planner at KBA Financial said: “I am so excited that we are able to return to holding this conference in person this year. Sonia and I have worked alongside Openwork from the beginning to bring three years of this conference to the female population of The Openwork Partnership, whether advisers or support staff and it was sorely missed last year.

"The event is a chance to network, learn, grow, be inspired from people both within the industry and externally to try and encourage more women into the most fantastic profession which we all love.”

The Openwork Partnership has been increasing its numbers of female financial advisers with more than 30% of all advisers across the network and up to 40% of trainees in The Openwork Academy. Around 45% of advisers at specialist protection business Owl Financial are women and 56% of new joiners in the first half of the year are female.